John Magnier has indicated there are no plans for Yeats to be retired in the immediate future.

"Aidan [O'Brien] has said the horse is back, cantering away, and fine in himself, and his future will revolve around Goodwood, The Curragh, and the Arc weekend in Paris. It will be a mixture of these options," he said.

There has been continuing speculation on whether Yeats, winner of a historic fourth Gold Cup last Thursday, had already made his 'swansong' in front of an overjoyed and supportive crowd. But Magnier pointed out: "One thing we agreed beforehand was that win, lose or draw, we would not be rushing into anything."

Clearly, the Coolmore Stud supremo, who owns the grand stayer in partnership with his wife Sue and close friends David and Diane Nagle, is sticking with that policy, although if Yeats continues to thrive at home, the option to race on becomes ever more attractive. He could still be competing through the autumn.

"He'll be entered for the Arc, but there's no guarantee he'll run. But history tells us that really good stayers have run well in the Arc, horses such as Levmoss and Ardross," Magnier stated. "Listen, if you had said before he ran that you were planning to win the races Yeats has won, you would have been certified," he added.

As the winner of the Derrinstown Derby Trial, Coronation Cup, an Irish St Leger, and four Ascot Gold Cups, Yeats has proved an exceptionally versatile horse, who has kept running season after season. "People sometimes forget he was favourite for the Derby. I remember having to make the phone call to Davy [Nagle], telling him Yeats had pulled a muscle and wouldn't be running at Epsom.

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"Christy Grassick (manager of Coolmore Stud) says there has been enormous interest in the horse from breeders, and I can understand that. Yeats must be one of the soundest horses there has been, and you like to see soundness in a stallion.

"He can run extreme distances, yet Aidan tells me he recorded 11.5 secs per furlong in his final piece of work [before Ascot]. People have been very generous in their praise of the horse and it has meant a lot to everybody close to him. The fact that they formed a guard of honour for him in the stables at Ascot, I've never heard of that happening before. We're probably not finished dreaming with this horse, but also we want to do what's right for him," he said.

Not surprisingly, Ascot have weighed in with plans to honour Yeats, but nothing will be done until connections have announced the horse's retirement. "It is considered extremely bad luck to erect a monument or anything else to celebrate the achievements of a horse, while it is currently racing," said Nick Smith, Ascot's head of communications.

"It will be something significant, I can assure you. Obviously, we would love Yeats to come back and try to win a fifth Gold Cup, but we also fully understand that is highly unlikely," Smith added.

Curiously, Ascot have a statue of Derby winner Motivator despite the colt never having raced at the course (though he was owned by the Royal Ascot Racing Club), and there is a temporary monument to Brown Jack. Frankie Dettori is honoured by a statute for his 'Magnificent Seven' in 1996, though not even Dettori can recognise himself.

Perhaps, as far as the future is concerned, the most significant events of last week were the two victories for American trainer Wesley Ward.

His bold ploy to bring over a select batch of two year-olds and an older sprinter was rewarded with a prize money haul of £189,000. Ward reckons his trailblazing trip will be the launch pad for many Americans in years to come. "You'll need gates [stalls] 40 wide next year," was his confident prediction.